THE QUAD; Sports Briefing | College Football: North Carolina Penalized

By LYNN ZINSER

Published: March 13, 2012

North Carolina was the latest school to test the N.C.A.A.'s will to hand out tough punishments for programs run amok and found the N.C.A.A. still has some will to hand out tough punishments.

The football program was docked 15 scholarships and banned from a bowl after this season and placed on probation for three years after a two-year investigation turned up violations largely traced to improper benefits involving former assistant coach John Blake, who was given a three-year ''show cause'' penalty by the N.C.A.A. Blake had already been fired, along with the head coach Butch Davis, and the athletic director, Dick Baddour, announced his early retirement last year so a successor could start anew.

''This case should serve as a cautionary tale to all institutions to vigilantly monitor the activities of those student-athletes who possess the potential to be top professional prospects,'' the N.C.A.A. Committee on Infractions stated in its report. ''It should also serve to warn student-athletes that if they choose to accept benefits from agents or their associates, they risk losing their eligibility for collegiate competition.''

North Carolina was found guilty of improper benefits, academic fraud and failure to monitor the football program. Blake was found to have received compensation from sports agent Gary Wichard in return for access to North Carolina players. Blake has denied steering any athletes to Wichard.

The penalties were harsh on the scholarship side -- Ohio State lost nine scholarships in its recent N.C.A.A. case involving improper benefits -- but less harsh in receiving only a one-year bowl ban compared to Ohio State's two. That is possibly because while Ohio State's coach at the time, Jim Tressel, was directly implicated for not reporting violations when he learned of them, Davis was not found to be directly involved. The N.C.A.A. punished Tressel with a five-year ''show cause,'' meaning any school that wanted to hire him has to show cause why the ban should be lifted.

The school was also forced to disassociate with several individuals involved, including the team's former tutor Jennifer Wiley as well as former player Hakeem Nicks, who now plays for the Giants.

When the violations were first reported in 2010, initially by Yahoo.com, the Tar Heels held 10 players out of competition for the 2010 season and did announce some self-penalizing moves before the N.C.A.A. acted. That may have helped mitigate the punishment, but clearly the N.C.A.A. decided the school had not gone far enough.

Davis was fired last summer, only weeks before fall practices began, and has since been replaced by Larry Fedora, formerly of Southern Mississippi. Davis's defensive coordinator Everett Withers coached the team last season to a 7-6 record and an Independence Bowl berth.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.